Arun Jaitley with the Budget before its presentation. PTIOne distinct and un-ignorable feature of this Budget is the dual focus on the rustic and the digital. The FinMin has ensured that the Budget propels forth the government's sustained digital push. At the same time, the proposals have a definite aim of bringing into the digital fold the large and untapped terra firma called rural India.
Though apparently innocuous, the proposals can have far-reaching electoral consequences with five states moving to the polls in the near future. The BJP and its prime minister have been aggresively using the new media for propaganda and publicity. In this context, the project to provide broadband connectivity to all the 2.5 lakh grama panchayats in the country can be a loaded quiver.
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The ongoing BharatNet project will get Rs 10,000 crore in 2017. (This is an information superhighway project to cover all the grama panchayats). Under BharatNet, the broadband range was in the 2-20 Mbps range. But government sources say the thrust is now on the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project, a component of BharatNet, which envisages 100 Mbps speed, which is five times that of BharatNet. The rural electorate may become exposed to an unprecedented data overload which the BJP could use to its gain in the long term, if not now.
Considering that the BJP was for long a party with an urban voter base, that is a wise long-term political investment. In the short term too, this is a smart strategic move as the assembly polls are imminent.
The project is being executed with help from BSNL, RailTel, and Powergrid Corporation. The DiGi project announced on Wednesday intends to provide tele-medicine, education, and skills training to the rural population. This apart, banks will be asked to introduced 20 lakh Aadhaar-based point-of-sales terminals by September and villages would also be covered.
Many builders are expected to scout for land in semi-urban and rural areas as the affordable housing segment has also received an impetus. With this, village economies are expected to boom, at least at the micro level.
In a prudent and umbrella-level move, the government will also set up a national computer emergency response team for the financial sector. FinMin sources told mediapersons that the facility would work in close coordination with financial sector regulators and other stakeholders to stave off 'all kinds of threats.' That is understandable as the push to a cashless economy has laid bare the need to strengthen cybersecurity systems in the country – where even low-tech card frauds are rampant -- on an urgent basis.
Anecdotally, wise politicians successfully secure a public mandate for personal needs. So, there is no surprise if a Budget deftly wraps people's welfare and the ruling party's needs.
